sibling
Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word sibling. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word sibling, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say sibling in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word sibling you have here. The definition of the word sibling will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofsibling, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
1903, modern revival of Old English sibling (“relative, a relation, kinsman”), equivalent to sib + -ling. Compare Middle English siblynges pl, sib, sibbe (“relative; kinsman”), German Sippe. The term apparently meant merely kin or relative until the 20th century when it was applied in a way that aided the study of genetics, which led to its specialized use. For example, the OED has a 1903 citation in which "sibling" must be defined for those who don't know the intended meaning.
Pronunciation
- enPR: sĭbʹ-lĭng, IPA(key): /ˈsɪblɪŋ/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪblɪŋ
- Hyphenation: sib‧ling
Noun
sibling (plural siblings)
- A person who shares a parent; one's brother or sister who one shares a parent with.
- None of my siblings are married yet.
- (computing theory) A node in a data structure that shares its parent with another node.
- (taxonomy) The most closely related species, or one of several most closely related species when none can be determined to be more closely related.
- 1990 April 1, P. Hutter et al., “A genetic basis for the inviability of hybrids between sibling species of Drosophila”, in Genetics, volume 124, number 4, pages 909–920:
- D. simulans, D. mauritiana and D. sechellia (which we will call “the siblings” when we do not need to distinguish among them) have homosequential polytene chromosome banding patterns differing from those of D. melanogaster by one long inversion on chromosome arm 3R and a few much smaller inversions.
- 2015 November 26, Lucie Vaníčková et al., “Current knowledge of the species complex Anastrepha fraterculus (Diptera, Tephritidae) in Brazil”, in ZooKeys, volume 540, , pages 211–237:
- Bush suggested that this difference might represent a case of chromosomal polymorphism or, more likely, sibling species.
Derived terms
Compound words and expressions
Translations
References
- ^ Karl Pearson, Alice Lee (1903) “On the laws of inheritance in man”, in Biometrika, volume 2, number 4, page 369: “These [calculations] will enable us […] to predict the probable character in any individual from a knowledge of one or more parents or brethren (“siblings,” = brothers or sisters).”
Further reading
Anagrams
Dutch
Etymology
From English sibling. Equivalent to native Dutch sibbe (“kinship; family”) + -ling (“-ling”).
Noun
sibling m (plural siblingen)
Related terms
Old English
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
sibling m
Declension
Declension of sibling (strong a-stem)
Descendants
- → English: sibling (learned)
Further reading
- Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “sibling”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.